How much does a WordPress site really cost?

You can download it for free, so WordPress sites should be really cheap, right? It should just take a couple of hours to build a website!

Sounds familiar? I’ve been on the opposite site of this argument so many times I decided to explain the proper process of building a website and costs related. Note: want to know some numbers quickly? Check our infographic: WordPress pricing debunked.

What a process should NOT look like

It’s worth mentioning that even the low-end freelancers advertise the following approach just to make a quick buck from the client, and there are several reasons for that:

they lack experience in business in general

they lack experience in marketing

they are running towards the bottom (price-wise), because that’s the only way they can be competitive and get work

Whatever the reason this is hurting our industry - badly!.

So, before I explain what the proper approach should be, let’s look at the wrong (and unfortunately the more common) one:

Without having any material for the website (copy and artwork), the client is advised (or decides) to search for a theme on ThemeForest or one of the countless theme providers online -because they are cheap, mostly around $50 or so.

The client Googles for a free hosting. Because why pay for something you can most likely get for free? Sometimes they fail, so they opt for the cheapest hosting they can find.

They (or their consultant, because the term freelancer is so 2000) install WordPress, then they set up the theme, and then struggle for weeks to come up with enough copy to fill out all those placeholders.

After some time, they accept the fact their website will never look as good as the theme demo, because they don’t have that much to say.

Eventually, because they don’t take care of their website, they get hacked by some script kiddie which puts them into panic mode, asking on Facebook groups what to do. Because their site needs to be up even if there’s no visitors.

The order is not necessarily correct and maybe not all points apply to every scenario, but I’ve personally seen all of them, numerous times.

Yes, the final price in this case may be quite low (let’s say ~$500 if you insist on a number), maybe a day’s worth of work for one person. But that time is wasted even if (or because) the site owner decides to save money and do it on their own.

It’s just like doing the electrical wiring in your house - no sane person would do that (unless that’s what you specialise in), but on the internet, the damage after screw ups is not that big or apparent - but it can seriously hurt your business nonetheless!

On theme providers

Before we move onto what I think should be the right process of developing a site, let’s spend a minute discussing theme providers, or more importantly, their pricing.

Codeable customers are often surprised when modification of their theme costs $1000 and more, because their perception of cost is skewed by the amount they paid for the theme, usually less than $100. So how can modification be 10-times the price?

I know a lot of theme providers (some of which are also Codeable partners) and I’ve asked a few how much a professional theme development costs. You’ll be surprised: I’ve gotten amounts as high as $50.000. Yes, Fifty grand.

What most clients fail to realize is that selling themes cheaply is theme authors’ business model. For them to be profitable, they need to sell at least 500 copies of our imaginary, $100 theme. And let me assure you - that is not easy. In fact, as more theme providers are appearing, it’s becoming increasingly hard for them to compete. Which is why some try to stay competitive by including tons of functionality in their themes, only to result in ridiculously slow WordPress. But that’s a topic for another article.

The bottom line: You’re paying $100 for a theme because you implicitly agreed your website doesn’t need to look unique. And there’s nothing wrong with it, just as long as you’re aware of this fact.

Same goes for plugins, many clients look for free alternatives instead of paying for a premium plugin license. There may not be any difference until they encounter issues, be it a bug or a missing functionality. Then they realize that nobody wants to look at their issue or that they have to pay much more for it than the premium license would cost them. That’s because when you buy the license, you essentially buy priority line in their support department. Look at it like insurance; You pay for it, hoping you’ll never need it, but when you do, it’s a life-saver.

The correct process

Before starting with any kind of development, you need to plan your website by doing research on the following topics:

What its purpose/goal will be; The most important factor of every website is called a conversion - the moment that your visitor is converted to a paying customer (by buying an item from you), newsletter subscriber, social media follower.

Who the target audience is; The most common mistake is when site owners think that everyone is their target audience, which is rarely the case - if you plan an e-commerce store for women’s dresses, then the tone of your website doesn’t need to appeal to men, unless it’s them you plan on buying most of the time.

Who the most typical customer is (also called a Persona); This helps the copywriter write text as if it is directly speaking to the most typical customer, which will be — among all visitors — most susceptible to persuasion. And you need to persuade them to buy. Preferably in the first couple of seconds.

All these points are very important since they set the foundation of all your website related activities. And there’s nothing technical about them, it doesn’t even involve WordPress for that matter. Do your homework - plan properly.

One of our planning/brainstorming sessions.

Layout and wireframes

Once you have all this written down, it’s time to plan the layout of each page on your website. This is a process, also known as wireframing. Its purpose is to brainstorm about which element should be on a particular page, what the purpose of that element is and how high (or low) it needs to appear on that page.

A rule of thumb is that every element should convey one of the 6 principles of persuasion (explained in the video below). Yes, you want need to persuade your visitors to convert. They don’t have much time, so better make every element count!

Once you see this video, you’ll immediately know why most websites (yes, even ours) have elements like call to action, features & benefits, testimonials, reputable company logos,…

You do not need any kind of fancy software for this part (although I recommend Sketch if you insist), a piece of paper or a whiteboard will do just fine, which is why you shouldn’t obsess over details at this point - done is always better than perfect!

Compelling copy

With all your elements defined, you should now focus on the most important part of your website - the copy. While the design is important in boosting credibility, this tweet pretty much sums it up:

Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it's decoration.

I recommend hiring a copywriter, but many site owners decide to do it on their own, which is fine, as long as copy is written prior to having a design.

In order to write compelling copy, you need to do a bit of research first:

What tone the company uses; Is it strict and corporate, casual or funny? (be wary, if you want to be funny, not everyone will get it!)

How does the company talk to the clients on social media, if at all?

What terms are often used - both by the company and the customers?

What kind of questions do visitors have and how is customer support answering back?

This should give you a clear picture of how the company speaks with its customers and you should use it to build your word bank: A list of most commonly used keywords and phrases that should be used throughout your copy in order to get consistent message and tone across.

Note: When writing website copy with the help of a word bank, it’s easy to reuse the same phrases over and over again, and it’ll look unprofessional. It’s okay not to put everything or if you have to, use different phrases, even if they don’t match 100%. It’ll look much more natural, which is what we’re after, visitors usually recognize and hate copy that is too much sales-oriented.

Design and theme development

When you have your wireframes and copy prepared, design process (or purchasing a theme) becomes much easier, because the designer only needs to think about the look and feel, and not about organization and structure. There are designers out there that can do both, but creative people tend to be more dominated by right side of their brain, which depends more on visual references than logic.

If you’ve done any site development in your career, then you know the process at this point starts to include all elements from above, which means the design can’t be done on it’s own - usually compromises have to be made; Sometimes a block of text doesn’t fit a container, the order of the elements doesn’t feel right, images don’t properly (or effectively) convey the message, etc.

This is the time when everything needs to come together which is why it’s important that everyone involved is collaborating to get the most optimal result.

It can also be done if you’re on your own, just make sure to think about each element critically and test/validate your assumptions with your potential customers, either by discussing the site before it’s published or A/B testing once it is.

In case you’re buying a pre-made theme, make sure not to be tempted to use all the elements it comes with just because they look nice (sliders, for example - they are useless). When it comes to websites, it’s easier to add stuff, but it’s much harder to remove it. Less is more.

Once the design is (mostly) done, it’s time to develop the theme — unless you bought one, but even those usually require some level of modification. Depending on the complexity of the design and the requirements associated (such as responsiveness, which should be included by default in 2015!) this can take weeks or even months and it’s a process that’s never 100% done - web is a rapidly evolving technology, and your site should follow suit - lest being obsolete rather fast.

As you see, nothing out of the ordinary, roughly 10 distinct page designs.

Because we followed the above process, the costs associated with each step are the following (rounding numbers and assuming an hourly rate for each involved person is $60/hr, which is how much we charge here at Codeable):

Planning stage took 4 people (designer, copywriter, UX designer and me as a project manager) about 1 week full time: $9.600

Copywriting took our copywriter roughly 2 weeks full time: $4.800.

Design also took roughly 2 weeks: $4.800.

Development of the theme (my responsibility) took me 3 weeks: $7.200.

This amounts to $26.400. If we decided to buy a theme, rather than developing our own, the site would still cost $14.400, assuming the bought theme wouldn’t need any modifications whatsoever.

Usually, when I explain these numbers, people ask me why on earth then use WordPress if they’re not saving that much, and the explanation is pretty simple: You’re saving hundreds of thousands of dollars because you don’t need to develop a custom content management system. This is where your savings are.

Of course, even $14.000 is quite steep for someone just getting started with an online business, which is why it’s completely possible to cut a few corners and follow each of the steps above on your own - the end result probably won’t be as effective, but done is better than perfect. And that’s why we all love WordPress: because it allows us to get things done.

Nice article. I think there is a niche where you can deliver an excellent site for a client for around $5K and still use the process you describe…albeit an abbreviated process.

marshapearson

I agree, Frank. I do have clients who see their website as more of an “online business card”. Who am I to try to sell them more than they are looking for? Although it does still have to have enough content – no question there.

It’s just like doing the electrical wiring in your house – no sane person would do that (unless that’s what you specialise in), but on the internet, the damage after screw ups is not that big or apparent – but it can seriously hurt your business nonetheless!

Annie R

I agree Frank, here in NZ 95% of businesses are ‘small business’ and quite frankly with the current (and recent) economic climate getting customers to pay even $5k for a website involves an expectation of a significant return on investment from the client. The great thing about wordpress is the ability to provide functionality in stages. Year 1 – business card site (with blog), year 2 ecommerce, purchase goods or bookings online etc. As always it’s the balance between making a living and providing what the client wants and can afford.

Brady

Nice post and completely agree. “WordPress: because it allows us to get things done.” Enough said.

Since many people come to Codeable to have a complete website built, shouldn’t the page where they set budget and timeframe reflect what you say above? If someone wants a website done right and the most they can say is “about a week” and “more than $1000” (with contractors prohibited from estimates over $9999,) does that not create a perception that $15K and a couple months is crazy talk?

Frank McClung

People are coming to Codeable to have an entire website built? That’s nuts.

Yes, people come to Codeable all the time for an entire website build. A lot of design agencies outsource all their development to sub contractors. Why not use a company that has structure and processes in place to protect the clients. It is comforting that there is some sort of validation and protection if the developer is at fault.

Frank McClung

So codeable also does design work as well? Or by build an entire website you are only talking about development work?

I meant a complete build from the development side of things. A well rounded developer should have some decent insight on UI and functionality so including them in the design process can help as well. But, no I don’t think the developers should be designing websites.

Tomaz – excellent article – I will be using your article for reference back to a client who has recently decided to ‘do their own website’ using wordpress, it’s now up and running and that first 2 second look leaves you cringing. Emergency meeting in-house today!

This is a GREAT article. I always perform a minimum 1-3 hour interview with the website owner before I start a project. Thinking of your ideal audience is huge. Lastly, glad you touched on maintenance. Today’s WordPress websites need ongoing maintenance and supervision. “You can’t drive it until the wheels fall off!”

The point is.. a clients perception is that web development should cost peanuts, but the great individuals and companies have learn their craft and bring an immense amount of value to a business. This is continually overlooked and undervalued. I agree the above price is a little steep, but we have created ultra quality solutions not just with WordPress but 100% bespoke CMS systems for similar fees. The huge danger for a small budget client is they enter a minefield of monkeys, and I would safely say that for their measly budget will encounter 1 in 10 (maybe more 1 in 100) contacts that is able to deliver the goods. Another good point for low budget clients is “do your research” and take responsibility for your own site, we have clients come to us saying “Our budget is $750 for full design and build, oh we also need a logo, oh yeah we need our users to login, setup an account etc.. I don’t have any content yet can you just get started using Lorem Ipsem and we’ll drop in copy at the end”. Or “We need a site like Facebook… or ebay – How much?” I used to spend time working through these sort of clients but now, if at all I just pick a number out of the air… $60,000. There response has been “Oh I had a guy from Asia that said he would do it for $900” – Enough said, nice article, not a big fan of WordPress myself, most of our builds are entirely bespoke to avoid plugin madness.

Evert Albers

I understand why this article has been written from a WordPress perspective, because it is the leading CMS for small business sites. But with the design and development process that you describe, it would be more effective to use other software altogether.

I usually combine the http://Bolt.cm CMS with front-end frameworks like Foundation or Bootstrap, which results in better flexibility and maintainability compared to combining themes with WordPress.

(Edit: I got here via a Link on Twitter, but I now realize this is a dedicated website for WP developers)

Thank you, Mr. Zaman! This went so straight into my personal Freelancer’s Must-Reads that I felt the urge to sit down and summarize the whole piece in my mother tongue. Hope it adds to the value already provided. http://glck.be/6629/

Sadly, I think many of us will have had this scenario occur with clients. Nicely balanced article, well laid out,with relevant facts that I will be sharing. Thank you!

Matt Lawson

Im stunned that anyone can charge this much for building a website. Certainly these prices reflect a very small customer base? The average small business can only afford between $500 and $5000.

Using resources like http://www.writeraccess.com/ and then choosing the VERY best writer would only cost $1000 at most. Find a top world class graphic artist (expensive) to make a PSD of the UX maybe $3k to $5k? Someone to convert the PSD into a template framework like gantry.org (example) $1k-$2k. A decent project manager say $2k max. So this would be a incredibly expensive way to go and I am only at $10k. And we did not even get into actual coding for any plugins.

Even with heaps of custom coding in say PHP, AngularJS for a WP Plugin + a custom theme and custom copywriting I still do not see projects that often these days beyond $10k except from larger corporations and RFQ’s.

daniel

You make a decent point Matt, but think about the resources and time you have to spend on simply finding each of these people, then briefing the job and following it through to finalisation. The costs above are not just for design, development and management; they are for timed resource reduction on your end. Taking 3-4 hours out of your day to look for designers, interviewing roughly 15-20 of them over a few days, looking at previous projects and trying to find a style match costs a lot for a SME owner.

Also, don’t forget the simple expertise you are getting from a team like this. You are paying for a partner, not a worker. You are there to get the best work possible AND the best information in regards to what does and doesn’t sell, how each area of a website can effectively sell a brand, move product or interact with a client, and so on.

You have effectively said all SME owners know and understand the system in depth, and thus can be top manager of their own site development, which is absolutely far from true.

Caitlyn

I know nothing about any of this, but this argument reminds of when people say, “Why is this slice of lasagna at this restaurant $15? I can buy all of the ingredients for a whole lasagna for that price!” And then they can’t even cook.

At restaurants it’s more than about buying ingredients and whipping them together. It’s the whole ease and service behind the meal that causes the food to go up in price… Maybe even the craft behind the recipe and the atmosphere in which you eat it.

That IS the best point of them all. Every project you do should be over $5k, otherwise you’re wasting your time. Starting off? Sure do the cheapies … but down the line, that’s crazy talk.

robahas

Matt, you might overestimating people’s technical abilities in a huge way. Or even their ability to use supporting resources. That’s just not how a lot of people think. The fact is that many design and development agencies charge between $100 and $200 per hour. The market is there.

Concerning this race to the bottom that is WordPress project pricing. There is no doubt that inexperienced/entry level developers and/or outsourced foreign labor are the root cause of this problem. But you can’t blame business owners and stakeholders for trying to getting what appears to be the same end product for less. Often times, the bottom line is all they understand. The key is educating these business owners and stakeholders about the perils of using cheap developers and their unsophisticated processes or outsourcing where communication barriers and legal protections are a constant concern.

That’s for sure. People literally post jobs on sites like Upworks with descriptions saying they want a site like Etsy or Facebook and they have a budget of less than a $1000. It’s as funny as it is discouraging.

What it really comes down to is if the value of that website is really worth whatever you are trying to sell it for. If it isn’t, maybe the project just shouldn’t happen, or the client should just settle for a simple one page website or a Facebook page. There is no point arguing that someone should pay more for something that has little value to them in the first place. I think the people who are serious, value their time, and know there is a good chance they will see a return on investment are typically more open to spending the correct amount of money to ensure that their project is actually going to be successful.

wwereview

What an odd article to receive upon signing up…hmmmm…not what I wanted to read…especially with a typo at the top… unless you meant to say: I’ve been on the opposite site of this argument. Ugh…

Dumb question from a new freelancer. In your breakdown, you have 2 designers, a writer, and a project manager/developer. It’s similar to other projects I’ve seen. My untrained eye sees 2 people who make things pretty, a writer, and a person who does cool stuff with computer code. Where’s the person who knows what needs done with that computer code? I never see a person with a business-y title.

Is that how web people use “project manager”? In other fields, a project manager is responsible for getting the project done. They manage people and resources. There is no implication that they know anything about sales or marketing.

googlemonkey

A project manager should hopefully know enough about the project goals, the technology and to be able to manage the team effectively.

The writer knows how to write great copy. The designer knows how to take ideas and make them pretty. The developer knows how to take the designer’s work and build it with computer code. The project manager knows how to manage the workflow so the completed project is delivered on time and under budget.

Who says, “You put the newsletter opt-in in the wrong place. It’s pretty and slick, but where are the calls to action?” What’s the associated field of study?

It isn’t part of an English/creative writing degree. It isn’t part of a graphic design degree. It isn’t part of a computer science degree. It isn’t part of a project management degree.

Is that internet marketing? Do we need to pick a member of the team and call them the Internet Business Specialist?

Who does it now?

If it is the project manager, then that’s another thing that is hurting the industry. We’re using terms differently than everyone else.

The project management skill set is universal. Project managers use the same skills/tools whether they’re managing a website being built or a house being built.

googlemonkey

Not if you are talking about a web project manager, this might be someone who was and still is a developer so they have the background and skills. As well as the team building and management skills.

Anon

And don’t forget another person to request TPS reports, and another manager to oversee logistics, and another manager to keep the managers in check.

I agree with you, Josh. A marketer needs to be involved. They build the funnel and ensure Analytics is tricked out. The marketer also helps with SEO.

daniel

The onus in this case falls on the UX designer. They are the person behind positioning effective CTA’s, Reducing user work load (by increasing the simplicity of movement through websites content in a ‘Step-By-Step’ fashion) and controlling the balance between Sell and Inform.

April Rae Mallord

You’d usually have a client strategist or marketing strategist/consultant involved as well. They would be the ones to create the overall marketing strategy -> online strategy -> web/content strategy. Then everyone else would implement and add their knowledge/skills along the way – example UX designer would apply his user flow knowledge to the web strategy created by the strategists or “Marketer”.

This has always been my role and it works out pretty well. I know business, marketing, sales and online strategies. Then partners or employees write, program, design, etc. based on those strategies. If a team doesn’t have someone like this on board, you are probably wasting money there as well.

In most of my experience, the client’s marketing team was the one reaching out to have the website developed and the business goals, corporate identity, etc. were discussed in the discovery meeting to assist in the planning and design of the website.

My previous company also had a Marketing Strategy division that could be leveraged for companies with little-to-no marketing resources, but they usually provided services to help boost/measure traffic after the new website was launched.

It seems very rare/expensive to actually involve marketing beyond the project brief, which is where the Codeable website project numbers above look like they begin. Marketing would come back in during QA to avoid scope creep during the development phase.

No problem! That’s a tougher scenario… Have you ever tried working a marketing consultant and UX designer into your project budget?

The consultant could help with the project discovery and the UX designer could help with the planning/design stage.

googlemonkey

How much would be a fair amount for a medium sized WooCommerce store to be built?

samira

I think using a tool for building a WordPress website is more cost effective and faster method than hiring any developer or purchasing any theme. I have tried all and finally I am using the TemplateToaster tool for developing a WordPress website, it really saves my lot of time and money and provides me quality of work.

Fantastic article. Strategy, copy, design, dev & then maintenance and growth. Any other way becomes a mess!

gnuyoga

Totally agree with the author. Am Project manager for a few WordPress sites. Only content management comes free everything else based on the project we need to get professional help.

akansha khare

very nice and informative blog.

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priyasurena

Nice to be visiting your blog, Well this article that I’ve been waited for so long.

A great Blog that I will be sharing with all of my prospective clients. Thanks :)

Unfortunately bottom feeders are scamming these businesses into thinking they have bought a bespoke website, but in reality they use a template and take all the credit for the design.

By the time the clients has got to a real Developer its to late, one bitten, twice as shy. :(

topsportweb

So at the end of the project who does the SEO or is that another persons job,its getting to the point very few small businesses can afford all this.Usually when I go to a small business to set up a website I have to do all this on my own plus make the coffee

Bruno Buckeye

I do not expect there are many small businesses with a budget of 15K for a website. There is nothing wrong with choosing a theme. Using original content, having strong SEO and call to action is more essential than using an expensive customized theme.

Darshan Thakkar

Perfect! Choose ready theme is not a bad idea at all. If you content and SEO strategy is strong there is not need to spend more on custom theme. We also doing same thing with our lowest budget clients.

In the process of creating a wordpress site only wordpress CMS are free. you need to purchase domain and Wordress hosting. you can reduced the cost by finding a reliable and cheap service.

robahas

Nice article. One push-back I would make is that it is not illegitimate to provide websites for the lower end market. You almost make it sound like that is not the right way to do things. But many people and businesses have nice, inexpensive sites that meet their needs. That is the best use of the commercial theme, I think. For example, a small storefront business does not need strong SEO or amazing web copy. They just need the equivalent of an online business card. Many clients on this level want to do their own photos and text, but they just need the technical stuff dealt with. One key here is to keep the client accountable to the theme they chose. No theme modifications. In fact, even if you can do it, pretend you can’t. Theme modifications should only ever be done by the hour. It’s a deep hole, my friends. Particularly because theme developers will often purposefully obfuscate their code in order to secure it. Many professionals also use their own custom developed theme, which gives you enormous flexibility. That is definitely my recommendation. But to return to my original point, you can’t tell a small business owner with a budget of $500, “No, sorry. It’s wrong for you to have a website. Go away.” – Ha ha. Not that anyone would literally say that. But you could easily charge someone $50 per hour and as long as you manage expectations that would be sufficient in many cases to make a nice, small websites with a budget of $500 hours.

I think you are right to mention that lower end “developers'” lack of experience just doing business. Do they have commitment and longevity? Have they thought things through? Example of the person who registers and hosts the domain of their client’s website via some inexpensive reseller account. Then a couple years go by and the move on to something else, and the client’s site goes down and they have no recourse. Etc, etc… In fact you can have a brilliant coder who lacks a balanced understanding of how business works and of what people want to do with a websites who will fail miserably at freelancing.

Having said all that, there are also plenty of larger organizations who are willing and able to pay for a fully fledged out WP website, and those are probably the best to work with if you can manage it.

Patricia Holt

If you are looking for professional website development agency I suggest contact folio1 (https://folio1.com.au). They have 10’s years of experience. Great proffesionals with reasonable prices. Highly recommend!

Ben Krahne

nice article , but without seo and catchy gimmick for ROI , might as well build a 7/11 on the moon , I’m going thru this to repair site 1500 bucks and bs promo guy 750 , Now i will take site probably have to pay someone else for simple 5 page site on country music to fix it again